42-31210

Picadilly Ann

Boeing's B-17G-5-BO was delivered to the
USAAF on October 4, 1943 and assigned to the 447th Bomb Group at
Harvard AAB. It was flown across the Atlantic by Lt. Gerald Leavitt.
On board for the transit flight were:

From the Public Relations Office,
447th Bomb Group, RattlesdenThis is the only known reference to the aircraft 42-31210 as
"Buccaneer." In all other records, the aircraft's name "Piccadilly
Ann" is well-established.

Quick thinking and courage on the part of Staff Sergeant Arthur
L. Varnau, 26, ball turret gunner on the Flying Fortress,
"Buccaneer" saved the lives of two of his fellow crew members.
Sgt. Varnau's crew were flying their eighth mission over enemy
territory, the target was Frankfurt, one of Germany's largest
industrial and rail centers. As the plane reached the target,
she was me by a heavy concentration of flak, one burst tore
through the nose of the ship, glanced off the navigator's table,
hitting both the Navigator, 2nd Lt. Marion O. McGurer, 23, of
Athens, Michigan, and the Bombardier, 2nd Lt. Thomas D. Burrell,
23, of San Diego, California, in the leg. Both of the officers
informed the pilot of their plight. Sgt. Varnau, his own gun
rendered useless because of a damaged sight, immediately went
to their aid. Reaching the nose of the ship he found the
Bombardier stretched our in the doorway; he quickly applied a
tourniquet to his leg and helped him to his seat. He followed
the same procedure with the Navigator and after making them both
as comfortable as possible he turned his attention to the ship
which thought damaged badly by flak, was still heading for the
target, which was only a few minutes away.

Realizing that both Navigator and
Bombardier were out of action, he saw that it would be his job
to drop the bombs. Without a moment's hesitation, he opened the
bomb bay doors and prepared to release the Buccaneer's special
gift to Frankfurt. Over the target he dropped his bombs and
watched with satisfaction as he saw them hurtling downward in
their journey of destruction.

Sgt. Varnau now resumed his
attentions to the two men injured in the nose. The Bombardier's
leg was still bleeding badly, Sgt. Varnau applied another
tourniquet and gave the officer some morphine to ease the pain.
It was then that he began to notice his own predicament: his
oxygen supply from his walk-around bottle was almost gone, there
was no way of getting fresh oxygen in the nose, both the injured
men needed all the oxygen they could get. If it had not been for
the sudden appearance of a German fighter on the scene, Sgt.
Varnau would probably not be around to tell this story today. In
order to avoid the fighter, the Buccaneer went into a steep dive
seeking protection in the clouds. She was flying at about 17,000
feet, this permitting Sgt. Varnau to take off his mask and
replenish his oxygen supply.

For the remainder of the journey
homeward, Sgt. Varnau rose in the nose looking after the injured
crew members. Upon reaching their home station safely, the two
men were taken to the station hospital and the flight surgeon
commended Sgt. Varnau for the skillful way in which he had
handled the difficult situation, for it was undoubtedly his
First Aid that saved the lives of the two men. For Sgt. Varnau
it was just another scene in the continuous drama that goes on
in the Flying Forts every time they take off on a bombing
assault on Fortress Europe.

Bombardier Lt. Thomas
Burrell (Huckins crew, 711th) and navigator Lt. Marion McGurer (Gilleran
crew, 708th) were both flying on this 4 February 1944 mission as
replacements with the Lt. Gerald Leavitt crew. Sgt Varnau was
decorated for his actions on the recommendation of Lt. Leavitt
and the group’s commanding officer, Col. Hunter Harris.

One week later, the Leavitt
crew again came to the attention of the PR office in this
article written on the 10 February 1944 mission to Brunswick (Branschwieg):

Staff Sergeant Forest L. Lowry, 22, of Redkey, Ind., is the left
waist gunner on the Flying Fortress "Piccadilly Ann" that was
with the formation of the Eighth Air Force that went out to
pound the vital German industrial targets in Brunswick, Germany.
The Luftwaffe put in the air all the fighters they could muster
to meet the determined assault of the Fortresses.

Sgt. Lowry tells of his part in
the great air battles that ensued: "The Jerries were attacking
pretty regularly, as someone said, ‘it was a devil's
merry-go-round.' There must have been at least twenty-five or
thirty attacks on my left waist gun position. They stayed with
us and kept up running attacks on our formation that lasted for
two hours, from the time we entered enemy territory until the
time we left it."

"About two minutes after we left
the target area, two Messerschmitt 110's came in together. One
peeled off and I opened fire on the one that kept coming ion
towards my gun position. I kept firing, more or less steadily,
until he passed underneath our ship. Our ball turret gunner,
Staff Sergeant Arthur L. Varnau, 23, of 1809 N. Oakland Street,
Arlington, Va., saw the Kessie turn over and a German bail out
before his ship went into a cloud." "Some of the Nazi's were
more successful than the one I shot down. I saw two fortresses
blow up and go down. At one time an old fortress with a German
crew passed very close to us. They grinned and waved as they
went by. There were parachutes, both German and American,
floating all around."

"Our ship did not escape injury.
The astrodome, the small glass lookout the Navigator uses to set
a course, was knocked out; the fuselage was split, there were
20mm holes in the engine cowling and flak holes in the tail.
This was my sixth mission and I hope I will never have another
one as rough. Not one of our crew had a scratch but we were very
tired. It was all we could do to carry our equipment to the
supply room."

A graduate of Redkey High School,
Sgt. Lowry is the son of Mrs. Orie E. Lowry of Redkey. He was
employed as a glass worker by the Indiana Glass Company of
Dunkirk, Ind. before entering the AAF in September, 1942.

42-31210, ditched in the English Channel
on March 9, 1944
on returning from Berlin.